George Rogers

 Moved to Alaska: During World War II, Rogers worked with the price administration, trying to keep inflation in check. He had a degree in economics from the University of California-Berkeley. In 1944, he was recruited to come to Alaska to control the price of raw fish. A year later, Gov. Ernest Gruening asked him to be his economist and help create a revenue plan for the Alaska Territory. He's been an Alaska economist since. "The population was around 70,000, and it was still a small state compared to what it is. I wanted to study economic change and the things that caused it. Alaska was a working laboratory for studying economics."

 Character he plays: Les Parker.

 Previous acting experience: Longtime Perseverance actor.

 On moving to Juneau: "When we first came to town, it was a lot like the town (the pioneers) remembered. The mine was being maintained, but it never did reopen. We had the two high schools, and the basketball teams were always in fiercely fought games. Douglas had just enough boys to field a basketball team. They were a scrappy bunch and several times they won the territorial championships by beating the schools up north."

 On playing Parker: "He spent most of his life in Gustavus. He and his father had some farmland. They grew some crops and brought them over to Juneau. Basically they got their money from the gold mine. He was a miner when he was in Douglas. His dad was the assayer for the Treadwell Mine before it collapsed."